Samuel ii



(No Model.) 7

S. H. RAY.

, NUTLOGK. No. 395,348. Patented Jan. 1, 1889.

W \rwgiaslii witness/w ATENT SAMUEL ll'. RAY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,ASSTGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE S."JYLER, OF SAME PLACE.

N UT-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 395,348, dated January1, 1889.

Application filed September 26, 1887. Serial No. 250,724. No model.)

To all whom it may concern..-

.lie it known that 'I, SAMUEL ll. RAY, a citizen of the United States,residingat St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Nut- Locks; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whereinl igure l is a)erspe '-tivo view ot. devices embodying my inventitm. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the nut. Fig.nL is an enlarged end view of the nut with the bolt and locking-pin insection, for the purpose of showing (listinctly that the locking-pin isof greater diameter than the depth of the eccentric groove of the nut,and also how the edges of the boltthreads are aln'aded in driving in thelocking pin or key. Fig. is a sectional view of the nut. Fig. 0 is adetached view of the key.

Like figures and letters refer to like parts wherever they occur.

My present invention relates to that class of nut-locks wherein the nutis provided with an eccentric or cam groove, and a key is used to bindon the bolt and prevent the turning of the nut on the bolt, and of whichthe nutlock described in my Patent No. 371,971, dated October 25, 1887,may be taken as a type, and on which the present invention is animprovement.

The advantages of the class of nutlocks referred to are, first, thesinuiilicity of the construction, which requires little change in thepresent form of the nut and none in the bolts; and, second, the abilityto lock the nut at any point on the bolt.

The main feature of the present invention lies in the character of thekey which is used in combinatimi with the trill-threaded bolt and then'uthaving an eccentric keygroove, which locking key or pin is oftempered steel, provided with a springarm adapted to clasp the nut, andis preferably of harder material than. the bolt with which it is to beemployed, as well as of slightly greater diameter than the deepest partof the eccentric slot in the nut, so that when driven it (the key) shallslightly groove the threads of the bolt to prevent the SlllLSPqllQlltcutting of the key by the bolt-threads, and shall clasp the nut toprevent the accidental displacement of the key, while offering nomaterial obstrum ion to the intentional removal thereof.

There are other features incident to the character of the key both as tomaterial and form, all of which will hereinafter more fully appear.

I will now proceed to describe my invention more specifically, so thatothers skilled in the art to which it appeii-tains may apply the same.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a bolt of any ordinary characterwith fullthread 2, and 23 the nut employed therewith. The nut 23 is of the classprovided with a groove eccentric to the aperture of the nut and whichcrosses the threads of the nut. The exact term or location of the grooveis not material provided its bottom is of such character as to cause thekey to hug the bolt when the nutis reverscly rotated; but experience hasshown that a concave or rounded bottom of the groove is not so desirableas a Hat bottom, and that, owing: to the greater amount of metal in theangle or corner of the nut the groove can be there placed with lessliability of weakening the nut.

The preferable Form ['or the eccentric groove of the nu t is that shownin the drawing's that is to say, with two parallel sides, 4- and 5, theone, being substantially tangential to the circle of the aperture (3 ora circle described with the axis of the bolt for a center and longerthan the other or opposite side, 5, and the liottom of the groove liat,as at 7.

8 indicates the key used for locking the nut, which maybe said toconsist of three membersthe lockingnn o, 1 he d living and drawingsection Z1, and the securing-arm c (or sprin;r-caich)-all of whichmembers are desirable, but each of which has a function in additioniothe combined function ofthe parts.

The locking-pin (1 must be slightly greater in diameter than the deptholf the eccentric groove of the nut, so that it shall not be capable ofimlepeiulent movement in the eccentric groove, except a slight rotationon its own axis, and is always inserted. with force-as by driving'-andit must be of a harder nature than the bolt 1, with which it is used, inorder that when driven it may slightly groove or aln-ade the threads ofthe bolt. Otherwise subsequent jar or vibration of the nut or bolt willcause the threads of the bolt to groove the key and destroy the lock.The locking-pin a is preferably round, as the cam action is moreperfect, and there is less tendency for the pin to leave its seat in.the abraded threads of the nut or to slide on said threads when the boltand nut are jarred. As the pin a has to be driven with considerableforce in order that it may abrade the threads of the bolt, and asconsiderable force is required to subsequently draw the pin, adriving-sectim'i, b, of con siderable gripping-surface and ofconsiderable rigidity is desirable, and as the lock is frequentl y -usedwhere the bolt and locking-pin are in a vertical position asecuring-aim, c, (or springcatch,) is employed. In order to form thiskey S, I select merchantable steel wire of slightlygreater diameter thanthe depth of the eccentric groove in nut 23, which wire as found in themarket is soft and may be readily bent, and at a pointdetermined by thethickness of the nut and the length of driving and drawing head requiredfold said wire, as at 1), upon itself, bending the wire the second timeat right angles, as at 11:, where the driving and drawing section b isto terminate, and then, as at y, thethird time to form the lockingarm 0parallel with thelocking-pin o the end of the locking-arm c terminatingin. tooth 9, which may either enter a hole in the edge of the nut 3, ora recess in the back of the nut 3, as shown in the drawings. If desired,the head and sides of the driving and pulling section 1) may beflattened, which will give greater grippingsurface for witlulrawingthefkey. hen the key 8 has been thus formed, it is heated and hardenedor tempered in such manner as to render the locking-pin u harder thanthe bolt, as before specified, and. this, together with the parallelfold of metal, will so stiffen the driving-section that the key can bedriven readily, which would not otherwise be the case, and will impart aspring-like or catch character to the securing-arm c.

To facilitate insertion and removal of the key, it is desirable togroove or bevel the outer edges of the nut 33, as llltllflfblictl at 10and 11, as the tooth f) of the securing-arm can then ride up and overthe edge of the nut without hinderance.

The grooves 10 and ill, or at least the anterior groove, 10, should besulliciently wide to accommodate the play of the spring or securing-arm0, when the locking-pin a rotates slightly on its axis, as beforespecified, which slight rotation of pin a is the result of its camaction, as in moving from the deepest part of the eccentric slot orgroove of the nut. If the anterior edge of the nut is sufficientlybeveled, the equivalent of the groove '10 will be obtained.

The devices, bein of substantially the character hcreinbe'foredescribed, will be used as follows: The nut 3 is screwed upon the bolt.l until it has reached the desired position, the end of locking-pin aof key 8 is then entered in the eccentric slot and forcibly drivenhome,

so that in its passage it abrades the edges of the bolt-thread, formingslight transverse nicks or grooves, which it is enabled to do by reasonof its harder nature, which nicks form a seat for the key, in which itmust remain, and consequently the key can never ride on the thread ofthe bolt, so as to be grooved or cut thereby.

I am aware that nut-locks have heretofore been devised on the principleof the wedge or cam action due to. an eccentric groove in the nut and aspring-actin cam. I am also aware that nut-lockshave heretofore beendevised in. which a radial groove in the bolt and a corrcspondin ggroove in the'nut have been used in conjunction with a locking-pin whichen'- gaged in both grooves; and I am further aware that nut-locks on thepawl-and-rack principle have been devised; but all of the aforesaiddevices have the disadvantages of complicated devices, which render themtoo expensive and too liable to become inoperative for the purposesintended, while most if not all of such devices either necessitate thesecuring of the nut at certain predetermined points in its rotation, or,if on the simple wedge or cam principle, result in the grooving of thelockingkey by the threads of the bolt, so that the devices shortlybecome inoperative.

As hereinbefore specified, I have previously devised the combination ofan eccentricallygrooved nut with a locking-pin of greater diameter thanthe depth of the eccentric groove, so as to be driven therein to form alock, and do not herein broadly claim the same; but I have discoveredthat unless the said locking pin or key be sufficintly harder than themetal of the bolt, so as to groove the threads of the bolt slightly inits passage, and thus form a lock. which combines the principles of thesmooth cam or wedge and the pawl and ratchet, the life of the lock willbe more or less limited, according to the extent of vibration or jar towhich the devices are subjected.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

.l. The combination, in a nut-lock, of a fullthreaded bolt, a nut havingan eccentric keygroove and a beveled edge, as at 10, and a locking keyor pin having a spring arm adapted to clasp the nut, substantially asand for the purposes specified.

2. A tempered-steel locking-key for nutlocks, having the roundlocking-section, the folded driving and drawing section, and thespring-arm formed from a single piece of wire and shaped to clasp thenut, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature, in presence of two witnesses,this 23d day of September, 1887.

SAMUEL H. RAY.

\Vitnesses:

I. NEsBITT, GEO. A. STRATTON.

